At the front gate of City First School, Li Zheng was filled with righteous energy, explaining the whole situation from start to finish.
"...That day was just like that, and in the end, I spent a pleasant evening with Zhang Xiaoke’s mother."
After finishing, Li Zheng remained completely still, at least outwardly showing no sign of panic.
But beside him, Shi Yang had already started to gasp in shock.
Brother, I know I made a mistake.
But you didn’t have to walk right into the trap either!
Shi Yang then turned to Lin Yujing, preparing to sneak away quietly.
However, Lin Yujing just coldly huffed, "How boring, I’m off to the exam hall."
Afterward, she cheerfully skipped away.
Shi Yang was completely baffled and tugged at Li Zheng, asking, "Is it really all okay now?"
"You still have the nerve to ask?" Li Zheng angrily turned around, "I’m not giving you any more lessons on emotional intelligence, go bang your head against a wall."
"Not at all~~" Shi Yang hurriedly followed him, winding around Li Zheng’s arm, asking, "Anyway, you two are definitely boyfriend and girlfriend, right? I can’t have misunderstood this ti."
"Sorry, you’re wrong again."
"What?" Shi Yang pondered, "If you’re not boyfriend and girlfriend, why go to all that trouble to explain? What does it have to do with her?"
At that, Li Zheng thought for a mont, then suddenly glared, "Yeah, why do I need to explain?"
"Hehe, could it be the kind of boyfriend and girlfriend that haven’t gone public yet?" Shi Yang rubbed his hands together and asked, "So that girl’s tongue..."
"Shut up!" Li Zheng pushed Shi Yang away and scolded, "I don’t know about the girl’s tongue, but yours is truly dangerous!"
"Alright, alright, I’ll stop talking." Shi Yang pulled out his exam pass and said, "I’m in Exam Hall 2, how about you?"
"..."
"Huh? No way it’s that much of a coincidence, right?"
"Stay away from ..."
"Co on, don’t be like that, us brothers sweeping through the exam room, wouldn’t that be just perfect?"
"No sweeping, get lost!"
As it was Shi Yang’s school, he knew his way around well, and amidst their jostling, they quickly arrived at Exam Hall 2.
The final round was nothing like the preliminaries; Li Zheng was genuinely preparing, entering the classroom a full 15 minutes early.
However, just from this aspect, everyone inside the exam hall was actually more serious than him, as they had all arrived even earlier.
This also spared them the trouble of finding seats, as Li Zheng and Shi Yang quickly settled down, one on either side with just one person in between.
After arranging his stationery and calculator, Li Zheng naturally turned to look at Shi Yang’s side.
Shi Yang had already set up well, lounging with one leg crossed, rubbing his ankle and grinning at himself.
Looking at the person seated between them, he remained motionless, his head bowed over a blue book.
The cover of the book was simple and clear, with just two words—
"chanics."
This was a basic college physics textbook, essential for theoretical books in physics competitions.
Li Zheng had of course read it long ago.
With only 10 minutes left before the final round, reading about electromagnetism to strengthen formulas and rules would make sense, but reading a chanics textbook was sowhat laughable.
It was like a gymnast about to go on stage, suddenly starting to review techniques from scratch.
Looking at this person, his hair was slightly long, partially covering his face, making it only possible to guess from the style of his shirt and sneakers that he was a guy.
In short, he looked like a poor student.
And sowhat of a long-haired freak.
Who knows which school he was from, since that kind of hairstyle wouldn’t have gotten past the headmaster.
Li Zheng then glanced again at the long-haired freak’s desk, nothing on it but a single pen.
A calculator, ah, how can one not use a calculator in a physics final?
Thinking this, Li Zheng couldn’t help but recall his own chemistry prelims.
Back then, he too hadn’t brought the right calculator, kindly reminded by Wu Shu, then squeezed in between her and Ou Xingzhuo for a fun ti.
This scene was sowhat similar to that ti, only now the one sandwiched in the middle was this last-minute cramr.
Just as Li Zheng was wondering whether to remind them about the calculator matter, Shi Yang couldn’t help himself and started to show off.
"Man, I’m just stuffed and bored." Shi Yang slapped his thigh and rambled, "Next month is ICho, and even if I made it to the Physics Competition finals, I wouldn’t have the ti to attend."
The people around couldn’t help but give him sideways glances.
This act was just too forced; no one was shocked, they just wanted to see which fool was talking big.
But, after all, there were a few who knew their stuff.
"Ah!" a boy exclaid, "Jijing does have an ICho contestant... is it you?"
"Heh," Shi Yang chuckled and waved, "Brother knows his stuff."
"So you are... Cobalt God? Shi Yang?"
Shi Yang gracefully bowed, "Indeed, it is I."
"Damn, how did you end up in the Physics Competition?"
"Hey, just ssing around, collecting Dragon Balls," Shi Yang said with a smirk, "Didn’t even review, and I just casually made it to the next round. This Physics Competition isn’t tough at all."
"Damn... a big shot is indeed a big shot..."
"Kneeling to the Cobalt God."
"What if you make it to the experintal round, will you still have ti to go?"
In the academic mainland, grades are revered.
No matter how foolish or dumb you are, as long as you are good enough in your studies to make it to ICho, you will be highly esteed by everyone.
Having no more face left to save at school, Shi Yang found himself in his elent in this setting and imdiately started lecturing, stating that ICho was all but in the bag.
He wasn’t done boasting yet.
He also wanted his buddy to have a blast.
"Look!" Shi Yang then waved his hand and pointed at Li Zheng, "Heh, you guys still don’t know who he is, do you?"
"Who is he?" the people around eagerly asked.
"Hah, Li Zheng, Beauty God, have you heard of him?"
"I know, he’s the national first-place winner in Chem Competitions."
"Right!" Shi Yang burst out laughing, "His chemistry skills are no less than mine, and his physics skills are definitely better than mine. This ti the Lake Ying Duo is joining the competition together, so you guys better watch out."
"On second thought..." another boy exclaid, "I think I’ve seen Li Zheng’s videos... at a gala."
"Brother has good eyesight," Shi Yang praised, "After all, he’s the Beauty God, proficient in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting."
"Damn, our testing room is aweso!"
"Big shot, go easy on us, we can’t handle the pressure..."
"Brother Zheng, please do the problems slowly, don’t scare us."
In the midst of the mutual praise, the atmosphere in the classroom grew even more lively, like the chatter in a Jianghu tavern.
Li Zheng, surrounded by people in the middle, just waved his hands and smiled, having nothing much to say.
Although showing off wasn’t right.
Being praised by everyone around.
Still felt pretty cool.
Thinking about it, Li Zheng had been around for more than half a year and had beco quite the figure himself; it was sowhat acceptable to enjoy this mont.
However, the long-haired weirdo next to him, engrossed in "chanics", hadn’t even lifted his head.
He hadn’t even turned a page of his book.
Rembering Wu Shu’s goodwill from the past, Li Zheng also cleared his throat and waved his calculator.
"Aren’t you supposed to bring a calculator for the Physics Competition, friend?"
The person kept their head down, ignoring him.
After waiting for over half a minute without a response, Li Zheng could only laugh and shake his head.
Forget it, forget it, better not to play the know-it-all, just do my own thing.
Soon, three invigilators entered the room, and all the students quieted down, handing over their study materials, mobile phones, and the like.
The long-haired oddity next to him still showed no sign of stirring, his book frozen on the sa page.
Shi Yang couldn’t stand it anymore and stepped forward to tap him on the shoulder, "Brother, stop looking, it’s too late now."
But the person didn’t move at all.
As ti passed, an invigilator who closely resembled Sun Xiubin also felt that sothing was off and quickly walked over.
Halfway there, the long-haired oddity suddenly jerked his head up, his eyes wide as he took a deep breath.
Then, he began to gasp for air right where he was.
Everyone around was startled.
The exam proctor, the "budget Sun Xiubin", stopped in his tracks, "Student, do you need help?"
"No...no problem..." the long-haired monster panted, shaking his head.
His voice was childlike and feeble, hardly sounding like a boy’s.
It was only then that Li Zheng noticed that he didn’t even look like a boy, too pale and delicate with a slim face and large, watery eyes that were filled with innocence.
He not only looked like a girl but also like a child...
Sure enough, he was a clueless fellow.
Across from him, Shi Yang had been staring for a while, and gradually beca bashful.
He was not usually shy with boys, but he felt flustered facing such a delicate and youthful boy.
By now, "Sun Xiubin" had reached the long-haired oddity and asked worriedly, "Are you sure you’re okay? You don’t look well."
"Ah... probably..." the long-haired oddity, who could speak well, hurriedly wiped his mouth and started rambling, "I guess... it’s nothing... yeah... probably..."
This blushing and brief loss of words were all too familiar to Li Zheng.
"Were you having a nightmare after falling asleep?" Li Zheng asked with a light smile.
"Ah... yes, it was a nightmare..." the long-haired oddity quickly agreed, grateful for Li Zheng’s glance, then grabbed his book and propped himself up with the table. "Slept too long... Is it ti to hand in the books?"
Everyone around laughed but ant no harm.
It was incredible that such a clueless person could make it to the semifinals.
"Well...", "Sun Xiubin" pointed helplessly towards the cabinets at the back of the classroom, "Put things that are unrelated to the exam over there."
"Yes, sorry, teacher..."
"Sun Xiubin" earnestly said, "You don’t have to be sorry to , it’s not my exam. I hope you can take this seriously for your own sake.
"..." The long-haired oddity blushed and turned around, stumbling upon Li Zheng’s smiling face and sticking out his tongue in response, smiling briefly before hastily moving towards the back of the classroom.
"Sun Xiubin" shook his head in resignation, then returned to the front of the board to write down the exam instructions and schedule.
The long-haired oddity quickly ca back and settled down, wiping the sweat from his face like he had survived a disaster and whispered with a covered face to Li Zheng, "Thanks."
"Don’t ntion it," Li Zheng waved his hand smiling.
TSurprisingly, the long-haired oddity was quite easy to get along with.
Just a bit too casual, hadn’t even properly looked through his textbook, didn’t bring a calculator, and still dozing off.
But then again, making it to the semifinals so casually, he must be quite talented.
Li Zheng then picked up a calculator and waved it, "There’s a lot of calculations in the semifinals, you should really bring a calculator."
"Oh, really?"
"Yes, it can save a lot of ti," Li Zheng nodded towards the podium, "If you’re too shy, I can raise my hand for you, each exam room should have a few spare calculators available."
The long-haired oddity repeatedly waved his hands, his face turning red again, "No worries... I don’t need it..."
"Exams are important, there’s no need to be shy," Li Zheng then leaned in, passing his calculator, "Use mine, I’ll ask for one."
"Don’t!" the long-haired oddity, frightened, clung to the table and scooted aside, "Really no need... I can manage with ntal calculations."
"What?" Li Zheng couldn’t help but laugh, "This is a chanics competitions semifinal, and you want to rely on ntal calculations?"
"It’s fine, I calculate quickly," the long-haired oddity scratched his head, pushing Li Zheng’s hand away, "Thanks, really."
"Well," Li Zheng shook his head and took his calculator back, "Looking at you, you must be a freshman, right? It’s okay if you fail this ti, take a lesson and rember to prepare well next year."
The long-haired oddity froze for a mont, then covered his face and laughed dumbly, nodding, "Okay, okay, got it."
"Co on..." Li Zheng felt uncomfortable, "Can you not end every sentence with ’got it’..."
The long-haired oddity turned his head, asking foolishly, "What’s up?"
"Forget it... as long as you’re happy..."
"That settles it then." The long-haired monster laughed again.
"Enough already..."
Sun Xiubin’s voice suddenly ca through, "Haven’t you two finished chatting yet?"
The two quickly quieted down and composed themselves.
Only then did Sun Xiubin point to the blackboard and say, "Let reiterate one last ti, the exam ti is from nine to noon, with a total of 320 points. The mont the ending bell rings, anyone who writes even one more word will be considered in violation of the rules."
Everyone just stared and dared not speak.
With everything arranged, the bell rang, and the exam began with the distribution of the papers.
Li Zheng, having been through this many tis, didn’t feel the overwhelming sensation he had previously upon receiving the paper.
He only felt one thing—
Stability.
There was no need to think too much about scores or anything of that sort.
If possible, he tried not to think about Lin Yujing’s situation while answering the questions, which was hard, but he could only do his best.
Just like doing normal exercises, he should tackle them one by one as fluidly as water.
Li Zheng thus moved on to the first question.
As expected of the semifinals, the difficulty of the first question was significant.
It was about a traveling car with a small round table in it.
The bottom of the small round table was supported by three rods, similar to the tripod of a cara.
And now, in the center of the table, there was a cup of tea.
The question was to find how high the tea should be filled to maximize the amount while keeping it stable.
In everyday life, this is a very common task—approximately fill it and that’s it.
But discussing it from a physics perspective turns it into a long and complex calculation process.
Simply put, it involved making the center of mass of the water cup as low as possible.
After establishing this goal,
the problem had nothing to do with physics anymore.
It shifted to the fields of analytic geotry and calculus.
Then tackle a limit.
Formulate an equation.
Eliminate the negative solutions.
Well, isn’t the answer just a simple calculation away—
h=m/ρπ²[{(1 4π/5·ρr²H/m)^1/2}-1]
Simple and clear, hardly any calculation, purely a warm-up.
The second question was about a man pushing a cart.
However, this ti it was an agricultural flatbed cart, the kind with two wheels, two rods, and a large platform.
But there goes calculus again.
Plus so simple issues with torque, rigid body chanics, and conservation of energy.
Just need to be a bit mindful about a bunch of two-dinsional collision problems.
After clarifying these,
What remained was still a mathematical geotry question.
True to its reputation, chanics Competitions really were a calculus contest for high school students.
After writing down his lengthy answers, Li Zheng looked to the neighboring desk.
The long-haired monster was staring blankly at the paper, eyes adorably dazed.
Ah, you’re still too young.
Go ho, master calculus, then co back.
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